Movie Review: ‘VANISHING ON 7TH STREET’

A lot of times in films, what you don’t see can actually be scarier than what you do see.  A classic example of this is the original 1963 film, The Haunting.  Using subtle sound design and dramatic lighting involving creepy shadows, Robert Wise made one of the best horror films of all time.  This “less is more” approach to horror can be seen as an influence on Brad Anderson’s newest film Vanishing On 7^th Street.  Unfortunately for the filmmaker that gave me one of my favorite horror films of the past ten years (Session 9), Vanishing should be hidden away in the shadows.

The film opens with one of our four main protagonists, John Leguizamo, working as a projectionist at a movie theater.  During the middle of one of the productions, the power completely goes out.  Thankfully for him, he is using a battery operated head lamp that helps him discover piles of clothes dumped in place where the patrons were sitting.  We then meet Luke (Hayden Christensen).  After waking up one morning, he discovers his girlfriend isn’t next to him as well as the streets being completely empty.  Flashing forward 72 hours (which seems like an odd choice when thinking about it), Luke makes his way through the darkness of the streets with battery powered lights.  When he discovers a bar, Luke meets up with a few desperate survivors: James (a young boy), Rosemary (Thandie Newton), and Paul (John Leguizamo).  The group quickly learns that in order to survive, you must remain in the light.

What follows is a series of dumb decisions and discussions within the group implying that “there is a reason for all of us still surviving.”  Religious ideas are hinted at but are never fully followed through.  I think writer Anthony Jawinski could have explored these Religious undertones a lot more.  Even by the end of the film, you are left wondering the reason for not explaining anything.  This is only the most minor of problems with this ill paced film.  The main blaring problem is the lack of suspense.  It is understood by the rules of the film (which aren’t even that clear), that if you have a light on you that shadows will not come and get you.  Even though we are treated to scene after scene of failing lights, never once do we feel the tension of the actual situation.  Instead, Anderson shows shot after shot of a ghostly figure against a building.  Though some of these shots have an interesting look for the fleeting seconds that they are on screen, they quickly become boring and tiresome.  The one redeeming aspect of the film is young actor Jacob Latimore.  Playing the innocent and worried James, Latimore gives the character real substance and feeling.  This is something that is severely missing from the other three characters.  Brad Anderson knows how to make a good film (as seen in The Machinist, Session 9, and Transsiberian), unfortunately Vanishing suffers from a script with no clear direction, explanation, or suspense.

As you can see, this film is a major disappointment for me.  This film had the potential to be a suspenseful, paranoid, survival film.  Unfortunately it comes across as a weak attempt at capturing the subtle magic of the old classic ghost stories.  This is even evident in the choice of Anderson including so many classic “pop standards”  as part of the soundtrack.  I appreciate the attempt at looking back towards the more simple days of horror movies.  Yet, Vanishing completely misses even holding a light to the subtle and suspenseful The Haunting, The Innocents, and others.